Elon Musk has announced a plan requiring all federal employees to submit a report on their on-the-job accomplishments last week or be deemed to have resigned.
Elon Musk, in his role at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), announced Saturday that President Donald Trump has directed him to email all federal employees, requiring a detailed account of their accomplishments from the past week. Non-compliance, Musk said, would be treated as a resignation.
“Consistent with President @realDonaldTrump’s instructions, all federal employees will shortly receive an email requesting to understand what they got done last week. Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation,” Musk stated in a Feb. 22 post on social media platform X.
The White House posted a copy of the email on X, which asks workers to provide a summary of their on-the-job accomplishments last week by a Monday midnight deadline.
Speaking the same day at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) near Washington, Trump laid out a broader vision for reshaping the federal workforce. He vowed to enforce stricter workplace attendance, eliminate remote work privileges, and expose government employees engaged in outside employment.
“If they don’t report for work, we’re firing them,” Trump said. “In other words, you have to go to office, right?”
He said that many federal employees are working second jobs “while they’re getting paid by us,” adding that his administration is demanding to see that information. It’s unclear whether Musk’s post about federal workers being required to report their on-the-job accomplishments is related to this effort.
Trump also highlighted his administration’s buyout offer to federal workers—officially known as the Deferred Retirement Program (DRP)—which he said more than 75,000 government employees have accepted. The program allows participants to receive full pay and benefits until Sept. 30 while being exempt from daily attendance requirements and layoffs. He suggested that many opted in to avoid scrutiny over potential conflicts of interest.
“One of the reasons they’re leaving is because they don’t want to have to show that, and we’re demanding to see that information,” Trump said. “How many jobs have you had? Who paid you while you were working for the government and all?”
By Tom Ozimek
